Mood Swings

0-3. Not exactly the start I had hoped for the Yanks, but hey, the season is less than two percent complete, and at least Derek Jeter is swinging a hot bat. Losing three games to an ultra-talented Rays club is no big deal. I’m not concerned one bit. 1-0. That’s the record I’m more focused on right now. It’s my NL-only keeper squad’s record after the four-day long opening week. 13, 15, 10, 1. Those are important numbers too. They are my place in the standings in my other four leagues. Am I worried about the first three numbers? No way! Am I ecstatic over that final number? You bet!

The beauty of early-April baseball, whether it be the fantasy or the real-life version, is that you can pay attention to what you want, exaggerate the positives and completely ignore the negatives. Don’t even look at the standings until May. That’s what I find myself saying over and over again to frantic fantasy owners. It’s good advice, it really is. But let me tell you a secret. I only follow it sometimes. If you’re in first place, feel free to stare at those standings for as long as you want. It really is a lot of fun.

Wednesday, April 11 – 11:33 PM

17 bucks for Henry Rodriguez? Yup. An owner in one of my leagues was willing to spend 17 percent of his total FAAB dollars on a guy who has tossed less than 100 big league innings and sports a career BB/9 rate well north of 5.00. And it’s not like he’ll be closing full-time until Drew Storen comes back in a couple months. He’s set to share save chances with the far more experienced Brad Lidge. Maybe I have the wrong idea here but I always try not to get caught up in the annual early-season closer hysteria. It’s not worth the stress. While I don’t really subscribe to the philosophy of drafting two elite closers, I do think it’s very important to draft two and ideally three stoppers with strong job security. If one of these hot closers of the week falls into my lap for a reasonable price, so be it. I just won’t be running around desperately emptying a good chunk of my FAAB budget to secure them.

Thursday, April 12 – 10:16 PM

Rarely in a 15-team mixed league does a true impact hitter become available on the waiver wire. Merely a week into the season, this is exactly what has happened. Look, I’ve gotten off to a terrible start in Mixed Tout. My squad has combined for one home run, the sole longball coming from none other than Ian Desmond. Am I panicking? Not yet. My three best hitters, Justin Upton, Mark Teixeira and Dan Uggla, have been downright awful thus far, and when you’re getting close to zero production from a trio of bats that cost a combined 96 dollars on auction day, well, you should be struggling. This has got to change. It’s only a matter of time.

What was I going to say? Oh, yeah. Johnny Damon has spent the past five-plus months sitting on his couch, probably watching 2004 and 2009 postseason highlight videos (I don’t have any inside info on this, just guessing). Why it took so long for him to find a job is beyond me, but he’s back now, and it’ll be very interesting to see how much he goes for in FAAB this week. I’m expecting strong bids from every owner, but how strong? That’s the question.

On the downside, it’ll probably take Damon some time to get back into game shape considering that he hasn’t had a spring training. He’s old, so that’s always a concern. But there is a lot to like about Damon. He did play in 150 games last year and has proven to be very durable throughout his career, so I’m not all that worried about injuries. But even more importantly, he will get regular at-bats. The same cannot be said about many of the other hitters on the wire. My floundering offense needs all the help it can get, so I’m not about to let this opportunity pass me by. At the same time, I’m not about to throw away all my FAAB dollars so soon.

Thursday, April 12 – 10:22 PM

Wait, it’s Vickery bidding. That changes everything. Who needs FAAB dollars? Get Damon now and deal with everything else later. Why am I even debating this?

Thursday, April 12 – 10:27 PM

I can’t be reckless though. What if I bid $58 and the second highest bid is $50? I’ll be paying more than half of my whole budget on someone who could turn out to be a total bust. That would be very embarrassing.

Saturday, April 14 – 5:06 PM

Ugly loss for the Yankees today. Phil Hughes got roughed up while C.J. Wilson held the Bombers’ bats in check. I would like to thank Chris Iannetta though for making the two hours I spent watching the game worthwhile. Iannetta, one of my starting backstops in Tout, clubbed a two-run homer, which will hopefully wake up the rest of my underachieving lineup.

I’m in a great mood right now.

Special thanks to Dan Okrent and the rest of the founding fathers of fantasy for that.